Pregnancy Weight Schmregnancy Weight

It's VIDEO FRIIIIDAAAAAAYYYY!!!  

I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank my writing partner for 1) providing material for my blog by getting pregnant and 2) being willing to share her questions with the rest of us.

And, in other news, my dog just got sprayed by a skunk.  Like, NOW.  The smell is wafting in from the backyard as we speak.  Holy Mary Mother of God.

I must deal.  But first, I give you Liz:

Comments

[Elizabeth Harper]

When I went for my first OB appointment, my doctor told me I was kind of chunky already and didn't need to gain too much weight.

I was barely a size 10. I know in Hollywood this would mean I was ready for a fat farm or at least an intervention of some kind by well meaning friends in need of a sandwich, but I felt a bit insulted.

So I ate myself up to huge and weighed 194 the day I delivered. Can I just say...don't ever tell a pregnant woman she's chunky in the first trimester. All bets are off after that and it can go either way.

I lost it later....so I understand not being held to some medical ideal of weight gain. If you're healthy and you do look healthy then who cares?

[Lynn]

Well, I started out a bigger girl before getting pregnant and my doctor told me that I shouldn't expect to gain much weight as I already had some "backstock" to take care of nourishing the growing baby. (I think that was a nice way of saying my fat ass would finally serve a good purpose.) Then about 5 months in I had an appointment where I actually lost a pound from the previous month and I had a complete meltdown, freaking out that I was starving the baby and I'd caused some irreparable damage to her. After talking me off the ledge my OB very wisely reminded me that there are NO rules when it comes to pregnancy weight gain and that each and every woman is different. She told me that as long as I was making good food choices and the baby was making steady progress that she was happy and I was fine...but she also offered me the option of not knowing what the actual number on the scale was if I preferred and just let me know if there was a problem. Interestingly enough I never took her up on her offer...I think just knowing I had it as an option was enough to help me not stress over the number.

All that being said I completely understand where you're coming from and I don't think you're alone at all in not wanting to know the number. I found after the baby was born that many new mother's I was meeting felt compelled to engage in this game of one-upmanship when discussing details about their pregnancy and the number on the scale at delivery (and at the 6 week checkup) was often brought up. Not sure why we feel the need to evaluate people based on weight but it doesn't look like it's changing anytime soon.

[Melinda]

Liz, you're hilarious. I so empathize. You look great and you will gradually lose the weight -- give yourself at least a year before you expect to look anything like your pre-pregnancy self. (It took almost that long to put it on, after all.) One of the really distressing things about giving birth is that you still look pregnant for about 3 months afterwards, usually, and you'll still be wearing your maternity pants. People will still be asking you when you're due. It's annoying. But you look GREAT and you're not crazy. :)

[steve]

a) WP looks wonderful.
b) The reason I ask my OB patients to be weighed each visit is not because of a MAXIMUM HEALTHY WEIGHT for pregnancy. (There is some data about weight gain in pregnancy and childhood weight issues but I don't think this has been clearly answered yet). I agree with Lynn and her OB. Instead, I'm more concerned about visit to visit weight change, especially in the final trimester. More than a pound a week in the final trimester is a reason for a little more concern, but not reactionary behavior. Weight gain is one of many soft signs in the diagnosis of pre-eclampsia.
c) I get frustrated with my teenage patients who don't want to gain ANY weight during their pregnancies and do drastic things to try and prevent this.
d) I'll put aside the doctor role and say again I think WP looks beautiful and look forward to seeing pics of the baby.

[Sandy]

I think every pregnant woman has some weird thing about weight. I am small boned and thin so passing 150 lbs for me was traumatic. After that it was all about not weighing more than my husband. Yes, this is irrational. The poor man gained at least 5 lbs just to keep me from hysterics and at delivery, he weighed a good 4 lbs more than me. Whew! Not that any of that really mattered. I gained 38 lbs, it was fine. It went away with nursing. I was healthy, son was healthy, all was good with the world... poor hubby still has to lose that 5 lbs though... tee hee.

[Jen]

Getting pregnant with my daughter was a hard-fought battle against infertility, so I wore my pregnancy weight gain like a badge of honor. I liked to see those huge numbers on the scale, because they were tangible evidence that a Real Live Baby was growing in there. As long as my doctor didn't think there was a problem, I just enjoyed the novelty of not caring about what I weighed. (And to be honest, my gain was appropriately paced and within guidelines, so I could relax and enjoy.)

[Heather]

I gained 20 lbs. in 2 weeks, but that was the pre-eclampsia the first time. The second time, the (different) doctor started to wig out when I lost half a pound in a week toward the end. I reminded them that this was the first warm week and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. He scoffed and said it wouldn't weigh a whole half a pound.

As others have warned you, it doesn't disappear overnight. And you should know that sometimes your weight will redistribute even if you lose all the pregnancy weight. I will never be a size 36C again the rest of my whole life.

[Heather]

And, to piggy-back no Jen's comment: I used to be worried about the extra pounds etc. etc. Then I thought, "Hell, I had two kids and it coulda killed me." Anyone who wants to comment on my weight/appearance can hire me a personal trainer to go with a personal chef.

[Liz]

Thanks, everyone, for the very reassuring words about pregnancy weight. I asked the nurse at my OB's office, and she said over 50 percent of her pregant patients don't want to know "the number." All you have to do is stand backward on the scale, and she'll keep her mouth shut. I will continue to do this for... well, as long as I need to. Could be awhile...

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